Friday, December 13, 2013

Publishing this so that people who share the same thoughts, values, and experience, know that there is at least one other person who think like them.

Few important things I have learnt in these 30 years based on my own personal experiences and observations. You may or may not concur with me, I do not care. I am writing this so when I turn 40, I can look back and maybe laugh at myself.

1. Money is not everything. Money may play a major part in making you feel happier, but it is YOU who decides if it anything makes you happier.

2. In my early 20ies, all I wanted was to earn my own living and move out. I wanted “freedom”, I wanted away from my family, I wanted away from my “burdens”. Yes, I was (and maybe still am) a selfish brat. But all I want now is to spend more time with my family, be close to them, buy my own place and have them move in with me.

3. My friends perceive me as a mentally strong person. Maybe… but I know I am more of a stubborn (and determine to be stubborn) person than mentally strong. I have a BIG ego. I cannot fail, I cannot stand to lose, I am very competitive person even if it is a competition with myself.

4. God, religion, heaven, hell, fung shui, karma, prayers, hungry ghost festival, ….etc. One does not just believe in them. It is a choice to believe in them. And I make my own choices.

5. Being depressed is a cycle. Understand the cycle and the triggers, but never feel comfortable being depressed. It took me almost 2 and a half years to snap myself out of depression the first time. And slightly over a year the second time. It is an experience which I know I will always be with me.

7. Life is always hard, unfair, short. Do something about it and stop whining. Or, accept it and move on.

8. Focusing on things I can control makes my life much easier to live with. I can control my future (well not all of it but you get what I mean la right?), I can control the way I think, and I can try to work on controlling my emotions. Focus on changing oneself, instead of changing the world. I also learned that I have very high standards on certain things and people, but I expect less. (I think that is trying controlling emotions-disappointment right?) Stay away from poison people!

9. Never indulge in self-pity!!!

10. Always have faith in people and the things you believe in no matter how dark the world has become.

Last, but the most important, always be true to myself. There will always be people, family and friends included, who will downplay my determination, belittle me, insult me and do whatever to see me fail, angry, sad….but I know better. I will Just Be. (Read DJ Tiesto – Just Be lyric)

Friday, November 26, 2010

Bear Grylls "After a night out, it is important to replace your energy, and one of the best things in the jungle for that are plams. The hearts of most palms around the world are edible, you just need to cut away the tough outer leafs. Carbs gives you slow release of energy, just what you need for jungle survival."

During my last hiking trip in Gunung Yong Yap I came across many young palm trees. They easily grow where there is light, either near water sources or where the canopy of trees are thinner.

I have to remember how the leaves look like though. Colour, texture, shape, growth, etc. It can get very confusing because there are plenty of species of palms that look a like and I won't know if I am eating the correct palm tree. In Man Vs Wild, Bear mentioned that most of the palms trunk can be eaten. That is good to know because I thought I will always need to look out for only this type of palm.

One thing that Bear did not mention is that you can also have the palm without killing the plant. If you do not have a knife with you, look for the palm shoots (looks like a long huge green pointy chopstick stuck in the center of the palm) and pull them off. You can eat the bottom white part of it. (Too bad the picture I have is too blur)

The young shoots of the palm does not taste bitter. They actually taste quite refreshing like pears minus the juiciness and sweetness. The texture was slightly crunchy. Not bad.

Palm trees, a health and free snack when you are hiking in the jungle. HAHA!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Some of you may have heard or read that one of the most active volcanos in Indonesia erupted. Gunung Merapi aka the Mountain of Fire erupted multiple times since 25th of October. Villagers from the foot of the mountains were evacuated and all but that did not prevent the ashes from being blown to the near by city of Yogyakarta. Watch Indonesian news on Gunung Merapi eruption here

When I heard about the news, I was interested to know more about the eruption because I have been to Yogyakarta twice, and have hiked up Gunung Merapi's peak exactly one year before the eruption.

I still remembered that we met up in front of a famous rice shop in Yogyakarta then packing 7 of us excluding the driver in a mini van. Under normal circumstances we all would have sat nicely for the two and a half hour drive to New Selo but we were all hiking and camping...our packs and sacks took up the whole trunk and the back seat leaving us all sardines at the front. When we reached New Selo, we had to get out of the mini van and push it up the slope because the van did not have enough power to drive all of us and the gears up. That was quite funny.

New Selo was already at 1678 metres above sea level...but I am not sure if New Selo is now Burnt Selo. Maybe the lava went the other side of the mountain?

It was lunch time by the time we reach New Selo. We ordered rice from the only stall open there. It was the best Indonesian kerabu rice I have ever taste in my life.

The other meals on the mountain weren't that bad either. We made fried tempeh (fermented beans) and also have "imported" chicken rendang (dry curry). It was frozen and brought over by our Malaysian guide using dry ice.

This little fellow came looking for food before dinner...but we manage to catch it and have it for dinner. This musang tasted delicious!

I was just joking hehe. The furry animal came scrambling for food but all we had to be stolen in the tent was uncooked rice. Later at night there were a couple of them who came for visits. Me and a hiking buddy was sharing a cave to sleep in ...I was quite sure they came in looking for food and not shelter.

We continued the hike the next day slightly before dawn. Saw only few interesting insects and plants. I think all of these including the caves would have been consumed by lava.

Before the start of the “real” climb to the peak, there are memorial stones set up to remember a few folks who have passed away while getting to the top. I guess this will be eaten by the lava too.

Getting up to the peak of Gunung Merapi was actually not that difficult. It was a lot like getting on to Bukit Tabur in Taman Melawati except the scramble is about 5 times longer. Like of my keluar pintu (outdoor) buddies would say “Minimum effort, maximum pleasure”. Merapi was that. Easy climb, excellent view.

Getting down was a different story. Loose rocks and dried lava makes it all too dangerous. I remember I sucked at coming down…my first volcano decent makes it even scarier. I slid down the scree and was having a hard time gaining control. Later in another volcano climb I learn the trick. The easiest and fastest day down is to dig your heel in deep and ski down with your foot. Scary thoughts turned in to fun.

Only thing we had to watch out for was for the hot sulfur gas sipping through the dried volcano rocks. If you place your hands at the wrong places it will get burnt. The smell of the gas did not gag me though. The strong winds bring the gas away too quickly.

Victory drink! ...when we all made it to the peak.

The drink had to be halal so coke will have to do. One can actually bring wine up without carrying the glass bottle (The difficult part is to carry the heavy glass bottle down!) using a plastic wine carrier. I almost wanted to invest in a Platypus Platy Preserve wine carrier. It’s inexpensive and I can use it for non hiking events too.

(In case you are wondering, Coke and Platypus are not paying me for advertisement :p)

The highest point of Gunung Merapi is at Garuda peak. Garuda is actually a type of bird and the sharp pointed rock you see on the left represents it. The rock used to have "wings" but the not so recent earth quake broke it wings according to the local guide.

Snacks are esentials in any hike. These are not good example though. All junk hehe. Its a smarter choise to go with carbs and sweets...but watermelon is a good idea too HAHA. (We had the watermelon near the camp/cave site, but wouldn't it be bizzar if we really did bring one up to enjoy at the peak?!)

I miss Gunung Merapi and the team I climbed it with.

Maybe I am lucky that Merapi is angry now. In a couple of years Merapi will hopefully be calm. I might or might not be fit enough to climb it then, but I will definitely look forward seeing the changes to the Mountain of Fire.

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